


you're so cold

by doublejoint



Category: One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29688672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doublejoint/pseuds/doublejoint
Summary: A real cat would be much warmer than Kuro.
Relationships: Django/Kuro (One Piece)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	you're so cold

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 24 of the February Ficlet Challenge: Ice

Kuro would have people believe in his resemblance to a cat, and in some ways the comparisons draw themselves. Sneaky movements, pride, long claws, open disdain. But cats, in Jango’s experience, are a lot warmer than Kuro is; even the meanest will give you a cute expression when they want something, roll around in the dirt to scratch their back, sit on your lap before they dig their claws into your thighs. Kuro is cold, like a sea that traps boats in ice, like frosty metal, like an empty furnace with no trace of ever having been lit. Maybe he’s got no time for warmth with all the contingency plans he’s laying in his mind, but shouldn’t all the churning of his thoughts give off something? Jango frowns. He’s lost the idea he had, the string of the metaphor he’d been chasing; it’s disappeared into the dune grass near the approaching shore.

“Are you sleeping again?”

Jango lifts two fingers to raise the brim of his hat. Kuro glares at him, the furrow in his brow pronounced, a break between floorboards where the finish has worn off and he’ll trip if he drags his foot. 

“If you have time to stare into space, you have time to plan.”

“Who says I wasn’t planning?”

“Who says you were?”

His words are clipped. Jango waits until he’s out of earshot, then waits a little longer, then sighs noiselessly, palms the top of his hat and pushes it back down again. The sun is glaring off the water; his glasses aren’t enough by themselves to block it. Kuro wouldn’t listen to any plan Jango came up with, anyway; he’d have thought of it himself or he’d dismiss it out of hand. Well, he’ll put up with it, just like he puts up with the cold. It’s worth it for the benefits, after all. If not a huge share of treasure, perhaps he’ll find some good music and a temporary dance partner in this town before they terrorize it and tear it down.

* * *

Jango barely manages to dance through half a song, finding the beat and getting into a groove, before Buchi tears through the walls of the club with half the crew in his wake. The music stutters to a halt, musicians scattering as the pirates make their way through the bar, grabbing anything that looks remotely valuable. This is Kuro’s distraction, eh? Jango can take the hint where it’s given, more, really, presented to him on a platter with an extravagant gesture. He’s here to loot, to help with the plan, not to dance--to reap the benefits, he must sow the seeds of chaos. 

(He could have both, but--he’s not the captain, can't fucking forget that.)

Jango hops over the bar and rifles around for the expensive liquor and the cash box--that’s locked, but the liquor’s out; he grabs a few bottles and tosses the box to Buchi.

“Have at it.”

With those claws, the box is open in no time and Buchi tosses around stacks of bills. Jango pats his head absently as he walks toward the exit; he’s got bigger shoes to dance in if he’s not going to be able to dance here, and this half of the crew doesn’t need his hypnotism. Kuro’s half, though, might, stealthy or no.

* * *

Thanks to Kuro’s planning and Jango’s hypnotism (and Jango will not let Kuro neglect to mention that part; he’s too sharp to even pretend he could forget it) they make out like, if not Celestial Dragons, than some lesser level of nobility. They have the wits to find the treasure and the money, and the strength to carry it all with them, so much that their ship is a tad overloaded. But the booze will be dry by tomorrow, with the way they’re going, making merry and sifting their hands through the jewels and gold, Kuro presiding with a neat smirk across his face like the valley between two picturesque mountains.

They ought to have more musicians on the crew, Jango thinks, but Kuro wouldn’t dance with him even if they did. He moves fast when he wants to, but not with a set tempo in mind; he’s not suited to lead and would refuse to follow. It’s vexing that Jango had to have chosen someone like him, but maybe it’s good to keep his interests separate. Kuro would no doubt approve--after all, he knows Jango’s interests, but Jango has no idea of his behind piracy and power and money, and there’s surely more. Whatever it is, Kuro doesn’t want him to know.

There is value in being cold, just as there is value in starting off cold and taking on the temperature of the hand that holds you, like a metal coin. Kuro, perhaps, finds the most value in the first, and uses the second to his own ends, but Jango can’t blame him for that.

* * *

Perhaps Kuro had chosen the cat motif because, in ways he can’t control, he’s very much like a cat. He’s so particular about his glasses frames, and always picks the ones that slip down on his face so he ends up shoving them up with the heel of his hand, paradoxical and inefficient when he doesn’t need to be. Sleeping, he rolls over into the slit of a sunbeam through the porthole, onto Jango’s side of the bed, nearly pushing Jango off. And there’s nothing cold about those things; they just are. 

But then Kuro’s glasses are in place, gleaming off the water, or he wakes up and his face is instantly positioned into a frown and he rolls back onto his side of the bed. The place he leaves behind is warm, but the space between that and where he lies, his back to Jango (though Jango would be a fool to take him for defenseless, much like a cat belly-up on the ground, ready to claw and bite) is empty and cold. Jango closes his eyes so the sun doesn’t make them water, though he won’t fall asleep before Kuro decides they should get up. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
